OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid vs. Intel Z68 SSD Caching

OCZ's solution is mighty fast.

Where Intel’s Z68 complemented a normal hard drive with a comparatively small SSD, OCZ takes the opposite approach on the Revo Hybrid – literally strapping a notebook hard drive to the Revo Drive 3 X2. The goal is obviously to combine the benefits of both storage technologies, namely large capacities, high transfer rates and fast access times. The caching side of things is handled by a software called Dataplex, developed by NVELO. According to company information, Dataplex does a better job than Intels Smart Response technology.

Our team at Computex managed to get some numbers comparing the two systems. On a Z68 system equipped with a 500 GB HDD  (7,200 rpm) and an unspecified 60 GB OCZ SSD, Intel’s SRT achieved  a score of 25195 in the HDD Suite if PCMark Vantage in Max mode. The Dataplex enabled system topped that, coming out at 28071. If this kind of improvement is possible through software, we’re hoping OCZ will also bundle Dataplex with its SSDs in the future, allowing users to set up their own SSD cache even without Intel's Z68. While the NVELO claims its software works with any combination of HDD and SSD and any AMD or Intel Chipset/CPU combination running Windows 7,  OCZ currently has no such plans to expand outside its own products.

Vertex 3 EX

OCZ also showed at Computex 2011 some new enterprise models. Among them were the Vertex 3 EX, a drive that shares all of the characteristics of the Vertex 3 Pro but uses SLC flash. The read and write speeds remain identical at 550 MB/s and 525 MB/s respectively, but it can sustain a higher IOPS at 4K block sizes than the Pro, coming in at 80,000 where the MLC drive is rated at 70,000 IOPS. Beyond that, all specs as well as capacities are identical to the Pro model.

Ludicrous Speed

No show would be complete with some amazing demonstration of technological brute force. At OCZ was a system with six Z-Drive R4 88 achieving over 1 million IOPS. Who wouldn't want that?